Welcome to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) LAX Internet Flight Tracking System using Lochard’s WebTrak. WebTrak is a system that allows you to watch the movement of flights and air traffic patterns within the greater Los Angeles region. This flight tracking system includes specific information about flights from LAX, Santa Monica (SMO), Long Beach (LGB), Hawthorne (HHR) and Torrance (TOA) airports, as well as information on air traffic transiting through the Los Angeles region. Information shown includes the aircraft’s type, altitude, origin/destination airports, and flight identification.

Black aircraft icons represent aircraft operating to or from another airport in the region, or that are transiting through the region and bypassing local airports.

Real time and historical flight and aircraft radar data originate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ARTS radar system at the Southern California TRACON facility in San Diego. The ARTS data is downloaded and processed by LAWA’s Airport Noise and Operations Monitoring System (ANOMS).

Real time data is viewed in the Live Mode and is the “raw” data feed delayed approximately 21 minutes for aviation security reasons and for preliminary system processing. Historical data is viewed in the Replay Mode and is the fully processed data available up to 90 days in the past. For more information, please refer to the Help section of the WebTrak website. Noise data from the numerous permanent noise monitoring terminals (NMTs) located in the vicinity of LAX are available in both the Live and Replay Modes.

If you are a first time user of this system, please take a few minutes to read the “Start Here,” “Legend,” and “Help” tabs in the upper left corner of the WebTrak site. These should assist you in understanding the full capabilities of WebTrak and how to use it.

Flight Information

Aircraft icons are not to scale and will change in size at different zoom levels. Flight and aircraft radar data originate from the FAA’s ARTS radar system.

Airline and aircraft type information is encoded in 3 or 4 characters. For the FAA Aircraft Registry, and the list of airline, aircraft type, and airport origin/destination abbreviations, click here http://www.lawa.org/welcome_LAX.aspx?id=790.

Noise Complaint Information

WebTrak is now the site you will use for filing online noise complaints. Click on the “Complaint” tab located in the upper left corner of WebTrak, then click the “Complaint Form“ button. You do not have to identify a flight to register a complaint. The Complaint tab will allow you to research the flight track data to find an aircraft operation that may have caused the disturbance you wish to report. If you do find it, WebTrak allows you to submit a complaint for that specific operation and fills in the information automatically. To request a written response from LAWA you must provide your name, address, city, state and zip code.

Noise Readings on WebTrak

Noise readings shown on WebTrak at the numerous noise monitors in the vicinity of LAX are real time noise levels represented by the A-weighted sound pressure level reading. A-weighted decibels, abbreviated dBA, are an expression of the relative loudness of sounds in air as perceived by the human ear. These noise levels represent the actual real time sound level at that location at that moment in time, and may be the result of an aircraft flying over or near the noise monitor. These noise levels may also be attributed to community-based noise, such as vehicle traffic, lawnmowers, etc. or just the ambient noise at that location. When using the Replay Mode in WebTrak, the noise events that correlate to an aircraft operation are shown with a square icon.

The real time noise readings shown on WebTrak at the noise monitors should not be confused with the annual CNEL, or Community Noise Equivalent Level. The annual CNEL is a noise metric used to describe the average sound level during a 24-hour period, averaged over the course of a year, and does not represent the sound level heard at any particular time. In computing CNEL, the total noise energy for each aircraft noise event is counted, with extra weighting added for aircraft noise events occurring between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. (3 times), and 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. (10 times). This weighting is done to account for increased annoyance during noise sensitive hours when ambient noise levels are generally lower and people are more likely to be at home and/or trying to sleep.

Computer Requirements

WebTrak is best viewed using a high-speed broadband Internet connection. A dial-up connection may also be used but loading the application and data will be much slower resulting in longer waiting periods, and it will not be possible to use high levels of acceleration when replaying flights.

WebTrak requires that Flash 9, or higher, be installed on your computer. Flash should automatically update to the correct version. If you have difficulties with Flash then you should refer to the Adobe product page for Flash 9. Your computer should meet the following minimum specifications:

Windows 98 or later, or Mac OS/X

128MB of RAM (256 MB recommended)

500MHz processor (1 GHz recommended)

Internet Explorer 6+ or Firefox 2+ are recommended for Windows users, and Safari on the Mac. Other browsers may work but they have not been tested.

Reliability of Radar Information

The intended use of this Web site is to display the general location and flow of air traffic in the greater Los Angeles region. WebTrak information is not intended for navigational purposes or airline schedule information. While ANOMS processes a large quantity of radar data with a very high level of accuracy, in a small number of cases, flight plan and noise data may not be correlated correctly. You may also notice aircraft icons sometimes "dropping off" and/or suddenly doing unusual things. This is especially true in the area immediately around LAX, but could also occur away from the airport as well. These "ghost" aircraft are due to radar and aircraft transponder reflections from the ground and high rise buildings around the airport, and possibly from terrain and meteorological conditions farther away from LAX.

Liability Statement

This web page and the flight tracking information is a public resource of general information. The use of this site is for illustrative purposes only. The City of Los Angeles and the Department of Airports makes no warranty, representation of guarantee as to the content, sequence, accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any of the database information provided herein. The user of this site should not rely on the data provided herein for any reason. The City of Los Angeles and the Department of Airports explicitly disclaims any warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The City of Los Angeles and the Department of Airports shall assume no liability for:

Any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the information provided regardless of how caused; or

Any decision made or action taken or not taken by the user of this site in reliance upon any information or data furnished hereunder.